Motor vehicles are typically stored in garages to protect them from damage while not in use. In many situations, however, such an enclosure is unavailable and the motor vehicles must be left unattended where they are subjected to wide varieties of environmental extremes. For example, an automobile which is parked outside for several days may be subjected to moisture from rain, dew, snow or frost; UV radiation and high temperatures from sunlight; low temperatures from conditions at night; abrasion from wind carried particles; and other environmental factors. All of these elements may cause damage to the vehicle. It is known to provide a protective cover to shield the vehicle from the environment in such situations.
Automobile sun shades and covers are currently available in various shapes. Some of the protectors are mounted inside the car, and include rolled blinds fixed to windows and folded cardboard shades adapted to be positioned adjacent a window, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,202,396 and 4,838,335. These devices are inexpensive and convenient to use; however, they only cover a single window and leave the external and other heat absorbing surfaces unprotected.
Other types of protectors are externally applied so as to cover at least a portion of the surfaces exposed to the environment. Some covers are made of a flexible fabric-like material configured to fit snugly around the vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,522 discloses a cover which is held in place by suitable means for biasing the open end about the lower portion of the vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,892 describes a cover made of a flexible sheet material for the passenger cabin of a vehicle. Adjacent sections are fixed to each other by fasteners for support. Such covers are bulky and cumbersome to apply to and remove from the vehicle. Further, they are difficult to handle and are inconvenient to fold and store when not in use because of their undefined form.
The difficulty of manually handling a large and bulky piece of cover material has largely been ignored by the prior art. An external car cover is by nature large: at least 5 feet.times.10 feet. It is thus significantly larger than the human arm span of five to six feet and folding and unfolding the cover usually necessitates moving around the car a number of times. Further, experience and dexterity are usually needed to prevent the cover from slipping away during application and/or refolding.
One obvious solution that has been offered in the prior art is a motor operated mechanized device which permanently attached to the automobile. This, however, is unsightly and prohibitively expensive.
Other covers have been developed which are pleated to provide a guide for folding. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,171 describes a pleated cover which is positioned about the upper surfaces of the vehicle and attached to the car's underside. Although this design is adapted to be folded and compressed when not in use, it is still cumbersome and inconvenient to apply to and remove from the vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,993 describes an accordion-shaped or pleated cover attached to the front and rear of the car. Again, the application of the cover to the car is a lengthy and cumbersome operation.
The present invention provides an automobile cover that is lightweight, light-reflective, inexpensive, and conveniently applied and removed. A number of patents have addressed these goals, however, none achieved all of them.